Image of the Old Convention Center site redevelopment schematic model courtesy Hines|Archstone The Washington Post is reporting on Mayor Adrian Fenty's announcement today that the city has scrapped any plans to build a new main library at the old convention center site, and instead has reached an agreement with a developer to construct a four-star, 400-room hotel. The agreement dooms forever former Mayor Anthony Williams' proposal to close the current Martin Luther King Jr.......

The Examiner reports that renovations are underway at the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library, the central branch of the D.C. Public Public system. The improvements come after former Mayor Anthony Williams' proposal to replace the building with a new flagship library two blocks away on the site of the old convention center was first tabled by the D.C. Council and then shelved by the Fenty administration. Improvements to the outdated and long-neglected MLK Library......

We love the urban architecture/monument/grit photos that usually fill the DCist Flickr pool, but were pleasantly surprised to find that a number of you sought out some lovely portraits of people around town this weekend. In parks and coffee shops, on stage or in the shipping yard, we love to see the unique expressions in this city as much as we love to see the unique view of all the unusual things we touch......

D.C. Mayor Williams officially introduced legislation Tuesday to approve the financing of a new Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library. Dubbed the Library Transformation Act of 2006, the Mayor's plan calls for a new "State-of-the-Art Central Library" to be located at the nearby site of the old convention center. The new Library would act as an anchor for a larger development plan that would include "new office, retail and housing" space around the site. The......

Today's Opinionist comes to DCist from local art blogger Kriston Capps. For all this time, D.C. Mayor Williams has billed himself as a supporter of big boxes in the District. During yesterday’s town hall meeting to discuss the fate of the city’s public library system, the Mayor revealed himself to be no friend to our most notorious big box—the Mies Van der Rohe-designed Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library. And he made no new friends......

There's no question that something needs to be done with the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library, which, after 30 years of neglect and mismanagement, is in about as good a shape as a D.C. group house populated solely by young men in their first two years out of college. The carpet is threadbare, nothing works like it's supposed to, and it's really a pretty depressing place to read. Not exactly qualities you hope for......

If you haven't gotten a chance to pick up the most recent City Paper, be sure to take a peek at "Lost in Space," a look by David Morton (with photos by Darrow Montgomery) of some of the city's awkward, neglected and forgotten public spaces. One of the spaces featured is Champlain Street where it evaporates inside the Marie Reed Community Center, just a hop, skip and a jump from the City Paper's offices just......

A letter writer in today's Post responds to Marc Fisher's Aug. 5 column on the plight of the D.C. public libraries, where he supported a plan to sell the old Martin Luther King Library downtown and move the library into the old convention center. The writer notes the proposal would create a "much smaller" library located "under a hotel" and she says "Any proposal to revitalize the city's libraries must focus on investing in neighborhood......